Saraswathi Veena(Saraswati Veena)http://www.theveena.com
Veenaagaanalaya the choice of learningThu, 10 Aug 2017 10:06:27 +0000enhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.1RELATION OF MUSIC TO FEELINGhttp://www.theveena.com/articles/relation-music-feeling/
http://www.theveena.com/articles/relation-music-feeling/#respondTue, 16 May 2017 10:57:18 +0000http://theveena.com/?p=701Relation of Music to Feeling Music is known as a universal language. It is also identified as the language of emotions. There are three forms or classes of languages used by human beings and animals. These three forms are Sound language Sign language and Word Read More ...

Music is known as a universal language. It is also identified as the language of emotions. There are three forms or classes of languages used by human beings and animals. These three forms are

Sound language

Sign language and

Word language

Out of them, the sound language is common to both human beings and animals. Sign language is also common to human beings and certain types of animals. Only the word language is highly developed among human beings. Certain birds could be trained to pronounce some words while several categories of animals could be trained to understand the word language. Generally, dogs, cats, varieties of birds, fish (sea dogs), horses, cattle belong to this class.

The human being comes out of the mother’s womb exercising his vocal chords for the first time and producing sound. He cries for milk. He cries for comfort. He cries for sleep. He cries because of pain and so on. If you observe carefully, you may find that his cry in slightly different forms is conditioned by the requirements of the baby. This cry is musical and gives great delight to the mother. It is able to stir the mother’s heart more than any other music in the world.

As the child grows, he expresses his thoughts and feelings through sign language, by expression, smile, laugh, cry, movement of limbs, etc. The child starts communicating through word language after some time. When again the grown up child or the mature human being moves ageing, his moan in sound and jerk (feature of staccato) due to inability or decrease in strength confirms that he is getting nearer to the grave. The second stage of children which is old age is also represented by variation of sound expressions such as groaning or linum and stammer or staccato, etc.

The function of all three forms of language is communication. The sound language originates from instinct or feeling and develops to a fine art of music based on the cultural background of the people of a country. In the development of music as a progression of structures of sounds and rhythm, different terms are used to identify musical sounds of different effect. In common, musical sounds are known as notes. Notes are produced by vocal chords or musical instruments. The sign language originates from instinct on reason and communicated through expression, signs, gestures in which the limbs, cheeks, face, eyes, lips, brows and muscles of the body come into play. This phenomenon of expression through signs has developed into fine arts forms of dance. The word language is mainly based on reason. It is able to communicate definite meanings making use of the palate, tongue, teeth, lips, nose and also grammar, philology and literature verbally and in writing or printing, making use of paper or some sort of base ink, paint or modern methods of printing.

The sign language is the most intelligible and expresses thoughts and feelings directly. The word language is most perfect but artificial and confined to humans only. The sound language which is music expresses feelings and emotions directly and thoughts indirectly. Therefore music is known as the language of emotions or feelings

]]>http://www.theveena.com/articles/relation-music-feeling/feed/0Relation of Regularity and Feelinghttp://www.theveena.com/classes/relation-regularity-feeling/
http://www.theveena.com/classes/relation-regularity-feeling/#respondTue, 16 May 2017 10:55:55 +0000http://theveena.com/?p=707Relation of Regularity and Feeling It is an accepted fact that the musical sound pleases while noise displeases the ear and the mind of a person. The difference between the musical sound and the noise is that the former arises from a regular vibration of Read More ...

It is an accepted fact that the musical sound pleases while noise displeases the ear and the mind of a person. The difference between the musical sound and the noise is that the former arises from a regular vibration of an object in air and the latter from an irregular vibration. A person listening to pleasing musical sound does so because his feelings are agreeable to that sound. It is not so in the case of a noise. The sensation of pleasing is caused by the regular vibrations. In other words, we may say that the cause for agreeability is regularity.

Regularity is the order of nature. Regularity applies to the movement of planets round the sun. All these planets move round their axes in regularity. The day, night, months, years, seasons pass in regularity. Birth, old age and death take place in regularity. Growth and development of all living things are governed by regularity. These observations go to confirm that adherence to regularity means pleasure and the opposite means pain.

From the study of embryology we come to know that the embryo in the mother’s womb gets a sensation of regularity through pulsation which is the most important discipline of regularity running through the lifetime of human being. Heart and pulse are interconnected and the whole body is drilled into the discipline of regularity. The nervous system is agreeable to regular impressions and disagreeable to irregular impressions. As a result, impacts of incidents cause convenience or inconvenience to the body and mind respectively. Accordingly, a sound originating from a regular vibration pleases the ear while those originating from an irregular vibration displeases it. In other words, musical sound pleases the ear but noise displeases.

]]>http://www.theveena.com/classes/relation-regularity-feeling/feed/0Nada Yogahttp://www.theveena.com/nadayoga/nada-yoga/
http://www.theveena.com/nadayoga/nada-yoga/#respondWed, 15 Mar 2017 05:41:27 +0000http://theveena.com/?p=510Nada in Sanskrit means ‘sound’ or ‘flow’. Yoga means ‘union’. The practices of Nada Yoga therefore can be understood as the union or flowing into sound. Nada Yoga incorporates all forms of sound or music. It is said that this path of yoga is the Read More ...

]]>Nada in Sanskrit means ‘sound’ or ‘flow’. Yoga means ‘union’. The practices of Nada Yoga therefore can be understood as the union or flowing into sound. Nada Yoga incorporates all forms of sound or music. It is said that this path of yoga is the one to which all forms of yoga eventually lead. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, after describing all the practices for yogic development – asanas, breathing, shatkarmas and bandhas, devotes much of its final section (entitled Samadhi) to the practice of Nada Yoga (referred to as laya yoga):

This rarely known branch of yoga uses vibration in its most refined aspect. Most scriptures agree that all that exist comes from one source which is God or the Absolute manifesting first in the form of Vibration. “In the beginning was the word” recounts the Bible and in the Vedas, the puranas from the Indian tradition, it is said that creation started from sound vibration, called Nada Brahman. This vibration is referred to as “OM”.

Nada yoga is the ancient spiritual art and science of inner transformation through sound and tone. Meditation on sound is one universal path to Self Realization, accessible to anyone, and appropriate for people of any religion or spiritual aspiration.

The term “Yoga” means to combine, coordinate, harmonize, integrate. Actually, there are many varieties of yoga, generally grouped into five categories:

1. Jnana yoga, the yoga of knowledge and self-inquiry

2. Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of devotion

3. Karma Yoga, the yoga of service

4. Kriya Yoga, the yoga of technique

5. Raja Yoga, a yoga integrating all the other four forms

Hatha Yoga, a basic form of Kriya Yoga, is the yoga of physicality, postures, and movement. It’s probably the most well-known form of yoga in the West; however, the main classical text on yoga – the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali – discusses physical postures (Hatha Yoga) in only three of its two hundred verses.

Within the heading of Kriya Yoga, or yoga of technique, there are several subtly different forms of yoga which teach meditation on sound as a path to spiritual growth and awareness. The three principal forms of this variety of yoga are Nada, Laya, and Surat Shabda yoga.

Nowadays we know that everything is vibration. From the tiniest atom to the galaxies, everything vibrates at a certain rhythm and in harmony. The Mystics and Yogis have used this principle of vibration in the realm of music to harmonize their gross physical body and subtle body in order to reconnect to the primordial source.

Nada Yoga represents the technical, vibratory aspect of the sacred chants (Mantras, Bhajans, Kirtans) which, through its positive vibrations, harmonises our physical and “astral”” bodies (energy, emotions, intellect), and in so doing gives us a glimpse of our “causal” body, the deepest part of ourselves whose nature is peace. This harmonisation eliminates many physical and mental tensions.

Nada Yoga ultimately leads back to the source of creation by using sound vibration. There are different steps to this process:

Listening to and chanting Mantras, Bhajans, Kirtans whose vibrations are pure because they have been composed and are interpreted by yogis, saints etc. This practice cleanses the mind and impregnates positive impressions, as opposed to some contemporary music or sound tracks of certain advertisements.. Try it and compare!

This pure music stabilises the attention, calms the mind and renders the adept sensitive to more subtle frequencies, enabling him to hear “Anahata”. This internal sound comes from the vibration of prana, contrary to ordinary sounds that come from the shock or friction between two things.The mind, absorbed in this “Anahata” is in a transcendental state. It experiences the Absolute, or God as “Nadam”, pure vibration.

Music has a direct impact on the mind. It can make it sad, happy, aggressive etc. All cultures have exploited the power of sound and music, in religion, in the military, in publicity etc. What our ears pick up is but a small part of what is emitted. However, even what we cannot hear has an affect on our subtle body, obviously against our will! It is therefore important, in order to avoid being emotionally manipulated, to chose the music one listens to!

Most commonly Nada Yoga refers to the practice of mantras and chanting, but on a technical level it deals with abstracts sounds, called “Taans”, that create specific vibrations within the body. These vibration can be used for healing as well as for destructive purposes. In ancient times this science of sounds and vibrations had attained a high level of development in the same way as today’s physical sciences have been developped . Certain Masters had acquired a very precise knowledge of this science.

This science of sound involves becoming aware not only of audible frequencies but also of frequencies that are inaudible to our ears. It is important to differentiate here between the two different kinds of sound. All the sounds which we hear through our ears are the result of two objects striking each other. This is obvious when we think of clapping or drumming and other such percussive sounds, but more subtle when the interaction between the two surfaces is not so obvious – the sound of the wind in the grass, the wide range of sounds we are capable of producing with our voices for instance (the effect of air hitting our vocal cords.) These sounds are called ahata sounds or ‘struck sounds’.

Then we have the ‘unstruck sounds’ – the anahata sounds. These sounds have no discernable source and are heard from within. The more subtle nada yoga practices are focused on these inner sounds.

“When the mind becomes so absorbed in that sound that one is no longer listening to it, but is vibrating in unison with it, then the final state of Laya Yoga (Nada Brahman, or Oneness with God/Sound) is achieved.”

Muz Murray

Whilst it is true that it can take many years – even lifetimes – of spiritual practice to achieve this ultimate ‘Union’ with the Divine, I do believe that we all can and do catch glimpses of it all the time in our daily yoga practice and living. And when we sing!